India supports Anonymous India's cause, say poll results

It is that time of week again, when we reveal last week’s ThinkDigit Poll results. Last Wednesday, we’d asked you, “Do you support Anonymous India’s cause against web censorship?” We’ve received an overwhelming response, with over 500 votes, and look forward to the same level of enthusiasm for sharing your views in the future.

The majority of the respondents (378 votes, or 77%) chose the first option – “Yes, I support it!”, indicating that a substantial percentage of our readers do in fact support Anonymous India, and its cause against web censorship in India.

Web censorship in India began without a bang earlier this year, when the Indian government asked a variety of major internet companies to filter offensive and objectionable content from their sites. Soon though, the government took action against P2P, file-sharing and video-sharing sites as well, blocking access to them without much warning.

The resultant outrage was minimal, with Anonymous India perhaps the only group to actively protest the move, starting with DDoS attacks against a variety of Indian government sites, and then following up with a radical (for hactivists) offline ‘Occupy’ protest on June 9, which endeavoured to make the concerns of Anonymous India heard. You can check out our coverage of the Anonymous India Occupy protests in Mumbai, here.

Anonymous India’s main contention is that content shared via P2P and video-sharing sites is not always illegal, and to ban access completely would repeal the freedom of speech and expression. “We are not a dictatorship, we are a democracy where freedom of expression is a fundamental right,” was the unanimous statement given by the protestors at Azad Maidan, Mumbai.

On being asked about the poor participation numbers for the protest, a group replied, “This is just the first protest. Expect us. See it takes time to build a momentum. Anna Hazare got so much support, but he has been chasing the issue of corruption for years. We will surely get more numbers in our next protest. But all we want to tell the government is – Expect Us! ” The low turnout sure wasn’t dampening the spirits of those who had assembled.

We’d also asked participants at the June 9 protest if they felt that defacing government websites was the right way to go about things. “Anonymous is defacing websites, as that is the only way to get attention. Once the word spreads, more people will know about Anonymous. It will get people curious about it and ultimately help in awareness,” they agreed.

Only about 17% of the respondents, or 89 voters, chose the option “No, I don’t support it!”. On the other hand, 10% of the respondents, or 52 voters, chose the option “It is futile, and won’t affect policy makers!” This indicates that while a few feel the cause is hopeless, others object to the methods used by Anonymous India, and the very cause itself.

Do participate in this week’s poll, where we ask you “What do you think of Microsoft's Surface for Windows tablets?” Navigate to the bottom of the page, or our homepage, to share your views.